The day after her appointment to oversee discovery in massive litigation against Prudential Life Insurance, a special master has withdrawn amid allegations that impermissible conflicts of interest barred her involvement.

A complaint filed by the National Football League Players Association is challenging the league’s billion-dollar television contracts. On Wednesday, the NFLPA released a statement announcing it had filed a complaint before NFL special master Stephen Burbank in Philadephia challenging the structure of the NFL’s television contracts with CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN and DirecTV. The complaint comes as both the players union and the league dig in their heels on a new labor contract to distribute revenue.

Prosecutors for the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct argue in objections filed Wednesday that Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller’s “willful and/or persistent conduct” in the case of Michael Richard authorizes the commission to sanction her. They were responding to the findings of fact the special master in Keller’s case submitted to the commission last month, finding that Keller should not be removed from office or be publicly reprimanded for her conduct in connection with Richard’s case.

A special master has ordered sanctions against Applied Materials and attorneys at Goodwin Procter for stalling in releasing an e-mail by the company’s chief executive.

Even though scores of e-discovery companies have disappeared recently, there is agreement among industry observers that EDD represents a growth opportunity for vendors. As special master and consultant Craig Ball says, “It’s just a business that needs a little maturing.”